February 21, 2014 -- Postcard from the Revolution via Venezuelanalysis.com -- For those of you unfamiliar with Venezuelan issues, don’t let the
title of this article fool you. The revolution referred to is not what
most media outlets are showing taking place today in Caracas, with
protesters calling for the ouster of Venezuela's President Nicolas
Maduro. The revolution that is here to stay is the Bolivarian
Revolution, which began in 1998 when Hugo Chavez was first elected
president and has subsequently transformed the mega oil-producing country
into a socially focused, progressive country with a grassroots
government.

The demonstrations taking place over the past few days in
Venezuela are attempts to undermine and destroy that transformation in
order to return power to the hands of the elite who ruled previously for more than 40 years.

Those protesting do not represent Venezuela’s vast working-class
majority that struggled to overcome the oppressive exclusion they were
subjected to during administrations before Chavez. The youth taking to
the streets today in Caracas and other cities throughout the country,
hiding their faces behind masks and balaclavas, destroying public
buildings, vehicles, burning garbage, violently blocking transit and
throwing rocks and molotov cocktails at security forces are being driven
by extremist right-wing interests from Venezuela’s wealthiest sector.

Led by hardline neo-conservatives, Leopoldo Lopez, Henrique Capriles and
Maria Corina Machado -- who come from three of the wealthiest families in
Venezuela, the 1% of the 1% -- the protesters seek not to revindicate
their basic fundamental rights, or gain access to free health care or
education, all of which are guaranteed by the state, thanks to Chavez,
but rather are attempting to spiral the country into a state of
ungovernability that would justify an international intervention leading
to regime change.

February 21, 2014 -- Democracy Now! -- George Ciccariello-Maher looks at the recent history of the US role in Venezuela opposing both the Chávez and Maduro governments. He is author of We Created Chávez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution and teaches political science at Drexel University in Philadelphia.

Before Chavez was elected in 1998, Venezuela was in a very dark,
difficult period with a dangerously eroded democracy. During the early
1990s, poverty swelled at around 80%, the economy was in a sinkhole, the
nation’s vast middle class was disappearing with millions falling into
economic dispair, constitutional rights were suspended, a national
curfew was imposed and corruption was rampant. Those who protested the
actions of the government were brutally repressed and often killed. In
fact, during the period of so-called “representative democracy” in
Venezuela from 1958-1998, before the nation’s transformation into a
participatory democracy under Chavez, thousands of Venezuelans were
disappeared, tortured, persecuted and assassinated by state security
forces. None of their rights were guaranteed and no one, except the
majority excluded poor, seemed to care. International human rights
organisations showed little interest in Venezuela during that time,
despite clear and systematic violations taking place against the people.

Those in power during that period, also referred to in Venezuela as
the “Fourth Republic”, represented an elite minority -- families that
held the nation’s wealth and profited heavily from the lucrative oil
reserves. Millions of dollars from oil profits belonging to the state
(oil was nationalised in Venezuela in 1976) were embezzled out of the
country into the bloated bank accounts of wealthy Venezuelans and
corrupt public officials who had homes in Miami, New York and the
Dominican Republic and lived the high life off the backs of an
impoverished majority.

Hugo Chavez’s electoral victory in 1998 shattered the opulent banquet
the Venezuelan elite had enjoyed for decades, while they ran the
country into the ground. He was elected precisely to break the hold on
power those groups had harnessed for so many years, and Chavez’s promise
was revolution -- complete transformation of the economic, social and
political system in the country. His electoral victories were solid,
year after year, each time rising in popularity as more and more
Venezuelans became motivated to participate in their governance and the
construction of a new, inclusive, nation with social justice as its
banner.

Blow to Washington

Chavez’s election was a huge blow to Washington and the powerful
interests in the United States that wanted control over Venezuela’s oil
reserves -- the largest on the planet. In April 2002, the Bush
administration backed a coup d’etat to overthrow Chavez, led by the very
same elite that had been in power before. The coup involved mass
marches in the streets of Caracas, composed of the wealthy and middle
classes, calling for Chavez’s ouster. Snipers were used to shoot on
those in the marches, creating violence and chaos that was immediately
blamed on Chavez.

Television, radio and newspapers in Venezuela all
joined in the coup efforts, manipulating images and distorting facts to
justify Chavez’s overthrow. He became the villian, the evil dictator,
the brutal murderer in the eyes of international media, though in
reality those overthrowing him and their backers in Washington were
responsible for the death and destruction caused. After Chavez was
kidnapped on April 11, 2002, and set to be assassinated, the wealthy
businessmen behind the coup took power and imposed a dictatorship. All
democratic institutions were dissolved, including the legistature and
the supreme court.

The majority who had voted for Chavez and had finally become
protagonists in their own governance were determined to defend their
democracy and took to the streets demanding return of their president.
Forty-eight hours later, Chavez was rescued by millions of supporters
and loyal armed forces. The coup was defeated and the revolution
survived, but the threats continued.

A subsequent economic sabotage attemped to bring down the oil
industry. 18,000 high level technical and managerial workers at the
state-owned company, PDVSA, walked off the job, sabotaging equipment and
causing nearly $20 billion in damages to the Venezuelan economy. After
64 days of strikes, barren supermarket shelves due to intentional
hoarding to create panic, and a brutal media war in which every private
station broadcast opposition propaganda 24/7, Venezuelans were fed up
with the opposition. Chavez’s popularity soared. A year and a half
later, when the opposition tried to oust him through a recall
referendum, he won a 60-40 landslide victory.

New destabilisation

Leading efforts to overthrow Chavez were the very same three who
today call for their supporters to take to the streets to force President Nicolas Maduro from power. Leopoldo Lopez and Henrique
Capriles were both mayors of two of Caracas’ wealthiest municipalities
during the 2002 coup -- Chacao and Baruta, while Maria Corina Machado was
a close ally of Pedro Carmona, the wealthy businessman who proclaimed
himself dictator during Chavez’s brief ouster. Lopez and Machado signed
the infamous “Carmona Decree” dissolving Venezuela’s democratic
institutions, trashing the constitution. Both Capriles and Lopez were
also responsible for persecuting and violently detaining members of
Chavez’s government during the coup, including allowing some of them to
be publicly beaten, such as Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, former Minister of
Interior in 2002.

All three have been major recipients of US funding and political
support for their endeavors to overthrow Chavez, and now Maduro. The US
National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and its offshoots, the
International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic
Institute (NDI) provided start-up funds for Machado’s NGO Sumate, and
Capriles’ and Lopez’s right-wing party Primero Justicia. When Lopez
split from Primero Justicia in 2010 to form his own party, Voluntad
Popular, it was bankrolled by US dollars.

Over the 10-year period, from 2000-2010, US agencies, including the
US Agency for International Development (USAID) and its Office for
Transition Initiatives (OTI), set up in Caracas in 2002, channeled more
than $100 million dollars to opposition groups in Venezuela. The overall
objective was regime change.

Student right

When Chavez was reelected in 2006 with an even larger margen of
victory, nearly 64% of the vote, the US shifted its support from the
traditional opposition political parties and NGOs in order to create new
ones with youthful, fresh faces. Over one third of US funding, nearly
$15 million annually by 2007, was directed towards youth and student
groups, including training in the use of social networks to mobilise
political activism. Student leaders were sent to the US for workshops
and conferences on Internet activism and media networking. They were
formed in tactics to promote regime change via street riots and
strategic use of media to portray the government as repressive.

In 2007, these student groups, funded and trained by US agencies,
took to the streets of Caracas to demand Chavez’s ouster after the
government chose not to renew the public concession of RCTV, a popular
private television station known for its seedy soap operas. The protests
were composed of mainly middle- and upper-class youth and opposition
politicians, defending corporate media and a station also known for its
direct involvement in the April 2002 coup. Though their protests failed
to achieve their objective, the “students” had earn their credentials as
a solid fixture in the opposition. Later that year, their organising
helped to narrowly defeat a constitutional reform package Chavez had
proposed in a national referendum.

Maduro targetted

After President Chavez passed away in March 2013 following a brutal
battle with cancer, the opposition saw an opportunity to snatch power
back from his supporters. Elections were held on April 14, 2013 in an
extremely tense and volatile environment. Nicolas Maduro, Chavez’s
chosen successor, ran against Henrique Capriles, who months earlier in
October 2012 had lost the presidential election to Chavez by 11 points.
This time, however, the results were much narrower with Maduro winning
by a slim margen of just under two points. Capriles refused to accept the
results and called his supporters to take to the streets in protest, to
“get all their rage out”. During the two days after the elections, 11
government supporters were killed by Capriles’ followers. It was a
bloodbath that received no attention in international media, the victims
just weren’t glamorous enough, and were on the wrong side.

As 2013 wore on, the economic crisis in the country intensified and
the old strategy of hoarding products to provoke shortages and panic
amongst the population was back again. Basic consumer products
disappeared from the shelves -- toilet paper, cooking oil, powdered milk,
corn flour -- staples needed for everyday life in Venezuela. Inflation
began to rise and speculation, price hikes, were rampant. While some of
this was related to government controls on foreign currency exchange to
prevent capital flight, a lot had to do with sabotage. A full economic
war was underway against Maduro’s government.

Problems persisted throughout the year and discontent grew. But as
the electoral period came around again in December, for mayors, the
United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) had sweeping victories. 242
out of 317 mayoralties were won by the PSUV, showing a solid majority of
the country still supported the government’s party.

Maduro called opposition governors and newly elected mayors to a
meeting at the presidential palace in late December in an attempt to
dialogue and create a space to work together to improve the situation in
country. The meeting was generously received by a majority of
Venezuelans. Nevertheless, extremists, such as Machado and Lopez, saw
the meeting as a threat to their goal of ousting Maduro well before his
term ended in 2019. Once again they began to call for street protests
and other actions against his government.

Crackdown on economic sabotage

In January 2014, as Venezuelans arrived back from their Christmas
vacations, economic difficulties continued. Maduro began cracking down
on businesses violating newly enacted laws on price controls and
speculation. Towards the end of January, new measures were announced
regarding access to foreign exchange that many perceived as a devaluing
of the national currency, the bolivar.

Sentiment built among
opposition groups rejecting the new measures and calls for Maduro’s
resignation increased. By February, small pockets of protests popped up
around the country, mainly confined to middle and upper-class
neighborhoods.

During the celebration of National Youth Day on February 12, while
thousands marched peacefully to commemorate the historic achievements of
youth in the nation’s independence, another group sought a different
agenda. Opposition youth and “students” led an agressive march calling for
Maduro’s resignation that ended in a violent confrontation with
authorities after the protesters destroyed building façades, including
the Attorney General’s office, threw objects at police and national
guard and used molotov cocktails to burn property and block transit. The
clashes caused three deaths and multiple injuries.

The leader of the violent protest, Leopoldo Lopez, went into hiding
following the confrontation and a warrant was issued for his arrest due
to his role in the deadly events and his public calls to oust the
president. Days later, after a lengthy show including videos from a
“clandestine” location, Lopez convened another march and used the event
to publicly turn himself over to authorities. He was taken into custody
and held for questioning, all his rights guaranteed by the state.

Lopez became the rallying point for the violent protests, which have
continued to date, causing several additional deaths, dozens of injuries
and the destruction of public property. Relatively small, violent
groups of protesters have blocked transit in wealthier zones of Caracas,
causing traffic delays and terrorising residents. Several deaths have
resulted because protesters refused to let ambulences through to take
patients to the emergency room.

Media disinformation

Ironically, international media has been portraying these protesters
as peaceful victims of state repression. Even celebrities, such as Cher
and Paris Hilton have been drawn into a false hysteria, calling for
freedom for Venezuelans from a “brutal dictatorship”. The reality is
quite different. While there is no doubt that a significant number of
protesters in the larger marches that have taken place have demonstrated
peacefully their legitimate concerns, the driving force behind those
protests is a violent plan to overthrow a democratic government. Lopez,
who has publicly stated his pride for his role in the April 2002 coup
against Hugo Chavez, continues to call on his supporters to rally
against the Venezuelan “dictatorship”.

While dozens of governments and international organisations,
including UNASUR and Mercosur have expressed their clear support and
solidarity for the Venezuelan government and President Maduro,
Washington was quick to back the opposition protesters and demand the
government release all those detained during the demonstrations. The
Obama administration went so far as to threaten President Maduro with
international consequences if Leopoldo Lopez were to be detained. In the
aftermath of the first wave of violent protests, Maduro expelled three
US diplomats from the US embassy in Caracas, accusing them of conspiring
to recruit students in Venezuela to engage in destabilisation.

As the violence continues in some areas around the country, Maduro
has made widespread calls for peace. A movement for peace was launched
last week, led by artists, athletes and cultural figures, together with
organised communities seeking to end not just the current chaotic
situation, but also the high crime levels that have plagued the country
over the past few years.

Most Venezuelans want peace in their country and a majority continue
to support the current government. The opposition has failed to present
an alternative platform or agenda beyond regime change, and their
continued dependence on US funding and support -- even this year Obama
included $5 million in the 2014 Foreign Operations Budget for opposition
groups in Venezuela -- is a ongoing sign of their weakness. As a State
Department cable from the US embassy in Caracas, published by Wikileaks,
explained in March 2009, “Without our continued assistance, it is
possible that the organisations we helped create ... could be forced to
close ... Our funding will provide those organiations a much-needed
lifeline.”

During the past decade in Venezuela, poverty has been reduced by over
50%, healthcare has become free and accessible to all, as has quality
education from primary through graduate school. State subsidies provide
affordable food and housing for those who need it, as well as job
training programs and worker placement. Media outlets, especially
community media, have expanded nationwide, giving more space for the
expression of diverse voices. Internet access has increased
significantly and the state also built hundreds of public infocenters
with free computer and Internet access throughout the country. Students
are given free laptops and tablets to use for their studies. The
government has raised minimum wage by 10-20% each year leading Venezuela
to have one of the highest minimum wages in Latin America. Pensions are
guaranteed after only 25 years of work and those who work in the
informal economy are still guaranteed a pension from the state.

While problems persist in the country, as they do everywhere, most
Venezuelans are wary of giving up the immense social and political gains
they have made in the past 14 years. An opposition with nothing
to offer except foreign intervention and uncertainty does not appeal to
the majority.

Unfortunately, the capitalist media fails to see this reality, or chose
not to portray it in order to advance a political agenda.

In Venezuela,
the revolution is here to stay and the interests of the 1% are not going
to overcome those of the 99% already in power.

Comments

As an Australian citizen and citizen of the world, my solidarity is with the people of Venezuela and the Bolivarian revolution. The legacy of our dear Commander Hugo Chavez will prevail. Viva Chavez! Yankees go home and never come back.